Tucked fastener for improved fastener performance

ABSTRACT

An absorbent garment has a chassis. A first region of the chassis includes a first panel and at least one first side panel. A second region of the chassis includes a second panel and at least one second side panel. A resilient fastening component is permanently attached to an inner surface of the at least one first side panel and releasably attached to an outer surface of the at least one second side panel. At least one of the first region and the second region is folded at least twice such that at least portions of the at least one first side panel and the at least one second side panel are positioned between the first and second panels and the resilient fastening component is tucked between the folded absorbent assembly and lies in a plane parallel to a plane in which a first part of the absorbent assembly lies.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/102,680, filed Apr. 14, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/799,814, filed Mar. 5, 2001 (now abandoned). Theentirety of both of these applications is hereby incorporated byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed to pant-like garments having refastenable,pre-fastened side seams tucked in a particular position to minimizefastener pop-opens.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pant-like absorbent garments, such as adult incontinence wear, infantand children's diapers, swim wear and training pants, typically haveadhesive or mechanical fasteners on the sides for donning and removal,or else rely on a stretchable waist opening and leg openings to slide onand off the wearer. Absorbent garments that slide on and off a wearercan be messy after use. Furthermore, in order to remove such absorbentgarments, the wearer's clothing covering the absorbent garments, such aspants, must generally be completely removed. Checking the status of thewearer's absorbent garment contents can be just as cumbersome aschanging the absorbent garment.

Refastenable seams including mechanical fasteners, such as, for example,hook and loop fasteners, have been found to be particularly beneficialwhen used in conjunction with pant-like absorbent garments. Refastenableseams allow for the garment to be easily applied and removed, as well asperiodically opened to check for exudates and closed if no exudates arefound. Absorbent garments having elastic side panels or othernon-refastenable side panels can have the side panels tucked into thecenter of the product for packaging purposes. Absorbent garments havingrefastenable side seams, on the other hand, can be prone to poorfastener performance if the side panels are tucked into the product insuch a way as to cause creasing of a resilient fastening component.

When the refastenable side seam includes a resilient fastening componentsuch as a hook component, these creases can deaden the hooks, therebyreducing the engageable area. As a result, a creased fastener tends topossess lower peel and/or shear values than uncreased fasteners.Products with severe and/or multiple fastener creases tend to be mostapt to pop open during application and wear. Fastener creases appear tobe more of an issue for hook components than for loop components due tothe possibility of permanent deformation of hook material compared tothe relative flexibility of loop material. A major cause of theseperformance-impairing creases is believed to be attributable to theorientation of the panel bearing the resilient fastening component aftertucking of the panel and during product compression for packaging.

There is a need or desire for a tucked fastener in a pant-like,absorbent garment having pre-fastened, refastenable side seams,positioned such that the tucked fastener does not interfere withfastener performance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to packaged garments having tuckedrefastenable seams. The refastenable seams can extend from a waistopening to each of two leg openings on opposing sides of the pant-likegarment and each seam includes at least one resilient fasteningcomponent, such as a hook component of a hook and loop fastener. Priorto packaging the garment, the refastenable seams are pre-fastened andtucked into the garment such that the resilient fastening components lieflat in a plane parallel to the planes in which front and back waistportions of the garment lie. Thus, when the garment is compressed andpackaged, the resilient fastening components remain flat and do notbecome creased or crushed.

Various embodiments of the present invention include garments foldedinto a differential tucked position, a differential undertuckedposition, an offset tucked position, and an overlapped tucked position.Each of these orientations results in the refastenable seams beingtucked between a front region and a back region of the tucked garment.Alternatively, the garment can be folded such that the refastenableseams are tucked outside of the garment chassis.

The orientation of the refastenable seams of the present inventionprevents fastener creases from occurring, thus it preserves theavailable fastener seam strength and makes fasteners, such as hook andloop fasteners, less likely to disengage during product application andwear.

With the foregoing in mind, it is a feature and advantage of theinvention to provide a refastenable seam orientation on a garmentpackaged in a tucked position that does not impair fastener performance.

In one aspect, a tucked, refastenable, absorbent garment generallycomprises a chassis including a bodyside liner, an outer cover, and anabsorbent assembly positioned between the bodyside liner and the outercover. A first region of the chassis includes a first panel and at leastone first side panel wherein the first panel includes portions of thebodyside liner, the outer cover, and the absorbent assembly. A secondregion of the chassis includes a second panel and at least one secondside panel wherein the second panel includes portions of the bodysideliner, the outer cover, and the absorbent assembly. At least oneresilient fastening component is permanently attached to an innersurface of the at least one first side panel and releasably attached toat least a portion of an outer surface of the at least one second sidepanel. At least one of the first region and the second region is foldedat least twice such that at least a portion of the at least one firstside panel is positioned between the first panel and the second panel,at least a portion of the at least one second side panel is positionedbetween the first panel and the second panel, and the at least oneresilient fastening component is tucked between the folded absorbentassembly and lies in a plane parallel to a plane in which a first partof the absorbent assembly lies.

In another aspect, a tucked, refastenable, absorbent garment generallycomprises a chassis including a bodyside liner, an outer cover, and anabsorbent assembly positioned between the bodyside liner and the outercover. A first region of the chassis includes a first panel and at leastone first side panel wherein the first panel includes portions of atleast one of the bodyside liner, the outer cover, and the absorbentassembly. A second region of the chassis includes a second panel and atleast one second side panel wherein the second panel includes portionsof at least one of the bodyside liner, the outer cover, and theabsorbent assembly. At least one resilient fastening component ispermanently attached to an inner surface of the at least one first sidepanel and releasably attached to at least a portion of an outer surfaceof the at least one second side panel. At least one of the first regionand the second region is folded at least twice such that at least aportion of the at least one first side panel is positioned between thefirst panel and the second panel, at least a portion of the at least onesecond side panel is positioned between the first panel and the secondpanel, and the at least one resilient fastening component is tuckedbetween the folded absorbent assembly and lies in a plane parallel to aplane in which a first part of the absorbent assembly lies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an absorbent garment having refastenableside seams;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an absorbent garment in a stretched flat stateshowing the surface of the garment that faces away from the wearer whenthe garment is worn;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an absorbent garment in a stretched flat stateshowing the surface of the garment that faces the wearer when thegarment is worn, and with portions cut away to show the underlyingfeatures;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 5 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 6 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 7 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential undertucked position;

FIG. 8 is top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential undertucked position;

FIG. 9 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 10 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 11 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 12 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in a differential tucked position;

FIG. 13 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in an offset tucked position;

FIG. 14 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in an offset tucked position;

FIG. 15 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in an overlapped tucked position;

FIG. 16 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are in an overlapped tucked position;

FIG. 17 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are folded outside of the front panel of thechassis;

FIG. 18 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are folded outside of the back panel of thechassis;

FIG. 19 is a top view of a waist region of an absorbent garment in whichthe refastenable seams are folded outside of the front panel of thechassis;

FIG. 20 is a side view of any of the absorbent garments in FIGS. 4-16;

FIG. 21 is a side view of either of the absorbent garments in FIGS. 17and 19;

FIG. 22 is a side view of the absorbent garment in FIG. 20 folded oncemore;

FIG. 23 is a side view of the absorbent garment in FIG. 21 folded oncemore; and

FIG. 24 is a side view of an absorbent garment folded twice in thelongitudinal direction.

DEFINITIONS

Within the context of this specification, each term or phrase below willinclude the following meaning or meanings.

“Attached” refers to the joining, adhering, connecting, bonding, or thelike, of at least two elements. Two elements will be considered to beattached to one another when they are attached directly to one anotheror indirectly to one another, such as when each is directly connected tointermediate elements.

“Bonded” refers to the joining, adhering, connecting, attaching, or thelike, of at least two elements. Two elements will be considered to bebonded together when they are bonded directly to one another orindirectly to one another, such as when each is directly bonded tointermediate elements.

“Differential tucked” refers to a folded position of a garment whereinextraneous portions of the garment are closely folded against or betweenthe main body of the garment.

“Differential undertucked” refers to a folded position of a garmentwherein at least one extraneous portion of the garment is closely foldedagainst or between the main body of the garment, and at least a secondextraneous portion of the garment is loosely folded such that the secondextraneous portion is only partially positioned against or between themain body of the garment.

“Elastomeric” and “elastic” refer to that property of a material orcomposite by virtue of which it tends to recover its original size andshape after removal of a force causing a deformation. It is generallypreferred that the elastomeric material or composite be capable of beingelongated by at least 50 percent, more preferably by at least 300percent, of its relaxed length and recover, upon release of an appliedforce, at least 50 percent of its elongation.

“Film” refers to a thermoplastic film made using a film extrusionprocess, such as a cast film or blown film extrusion process. The termincludes apertured films, slit films, and other porous films whichconstitute liquid transfer films, as well as films which do not transferliquid.

“Hydrophilic” describes fibers or the surfaces of fibers which arewetted by the aqueous liquids in contact with the fibers. The degree ofwetting of the materials can, in turn, be described in terms of thecontact angles and the surface tensions of the liquids and materialsinvolved. Equipment and techniques suitable for measuring thewettability of particular fiber materials or blends of fiber materialscan be provided by a Cahn SFA-222 Surface Force Analyzer System, or asubstantially equivalent system. When measured with this system, fibershaving contact angles less than 90 are designated “wettable” orhydrophilic, while fibers having contact angles greater than 90 aredesignated “nonwettable” or hydrophobic.

“Layer” when used in the singular can have the dual meaning of a singleelement or a plurality of elements.

“Liquid impermeable,” when used in describing a layer or multi-layerlaminate, means that a liquid, such as urine, will not pass through thelayer or laminate, under ordinary use conditions, in a directiongenerally perpendicular to the plane of the layer or laminate at thepoint of liquid contact. “Liquid permeable material” or “liquidwater-permeable material” refers to a material present in one or morelayers, such as a film, nonwoven fabric, or open-celled foam, which isporous, and which is water permeable due to the flow of water and otheraqueous liquids through the pores. The pores in the film or foam, orspaces between fibers or filaments in a nonwoven web, are large enoughand frequent enough to permit leakage and flow of liquid water throughthe material.

“Longitudinal” and “transverse” have their customary meaning, asindicated by the longitudinal and transverse axes depicted in FIGS. 2and 3. The longitudinal axis lies in the plane of the article and isgenerally parallel to a vertical plane that bisects a standing wearerinto left and right body halves when the article is worn. The transverseaxis lies in the plane of the article generally perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis. The article as illustrated is generally longer in thelongitudinal direction than in the transverse direction, althoughproducts longer in the transverse direction are also possible.

“Longitudinal midline” refers to a line, either real or imaginary, thatruns along the longitudinal length of the chassis of an absorbentgarment and bisects the chassis into two halves of equal transversewidth.

“Meltblown fiber” means fibers formed by extruding a moltenthermoplastic material through a plurality of fine, usually circular,die capillaries as molten threads or filaments into converging highvelocity heated gas (e.g., air) streams which attenuate the filaments ofmolten thermoplastic material to reduce their diameter, which may be tomicrofiber diameter. Thereafter, the meltblown fibers are carried by thehigh velocity gas stream and are deposited on a collecting surface toform a web of randomly dispersed meltblown fibers. Such a process isdisclosed for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,241 to Butin et al.Meltblown fibers are microfibers which may be continuous ordiscontinuous, are generally smaller than about 0.6 denier, and aregenerally self bonding when deposited onto a collecting surface.Meltblown fibers used in the present invention are preferablysubstantially continuous in length.

“Member” when used in the singular can have the dual meaning of a singleelement or a plurality of elements.

“Nonwoven” and “nonwoven web” refer to materials and webs of materialwhich are formed without the aid of a textile weaving or knittingprocess.

“Offset tucked” refers to a folded position of a garment wherein thefront and back regions of the garment are skewed such that thelongitudinal midline of the front region of the chassis is offset or notaligned with the longitudinal midline of the back region of the chassis,and seams connecting the front and back regions are tucked.

“Operatively joined,” in reference to the attachment of an elasticmember to another element, means that the elastic member when attachedto or connected to the element, or treated with heat or chemicals, bystretching, or the like, gives the element elastic properties; and withreference to the attachment of a non-elastic member to another element,means that the member and element can be attached in any suitable mannerthat permits or allows them to perform the intended or describedfunction of the joinder. The joining, attaching, connecting or the likecan be either directly, such as joining either member directly to anelement, or can be indirectly by means of another member disposedbetween the first member and the first element.

“Overlapped tucked” refers to a folded position of a garment whereinextraneous portions of the garment, each having at least one seam, arefolded such that the extraneous portions overlap one another.

“Permanently attached” or “permanently bonded” refers to the joining,adhering, connecting, attaching, bonding, or the like, of two elementsof an absorbent garment such that the elements tend to be and remainattached during normal use conditions of the absorbent garment.

“Polymers” include, but are not limited to, homopolymers, copolymers,such as for example, block, graft, random and alternating copolymers,terpolymers, etc. and blends and modifications thereof. Furthermore,unless otherwise specifically limited, the term “polymer” shall includeall possible geometrical configurations of the material. Theseconfigurations include, but are not limited to isotactic, syndiotacticand atactic symmetries.

“Refastenable” refers to the property of two elements being capable ofreleasable attachment, separation, and subsequent releasablereattachment without substantial permanent deformation or rupture. Therefastenable elements can be attached, separated and reattached for atleast one cycle, suitably for at least 5 cycles, or suitably for atleast 10 cycles.

“Releasably attached,” “releasably engaged” and variations thereof referto two elements being connected or connectable such that the elementstend to remain connected absent a separation force applied to one orboth of the elements, and the elements being capable of separationwithout substantial permanent deformation or rupture. The requiredseparation force is typically beyond that encountered while wearing theabsorbent garment.

“Self-engaging fastener” refers to a fastening component that can engagewith another fastening component having the same structure.

“Spunbonded fiber” refers to small diameter fibers which are formed byextruding molten thermoplastic material as filaments from a plurality offine capillaries of a spinnerette having a circular or otherconfiguration, with the diameter of the extruded filaments then beingrapidly reduced as by, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,563 to Appelet al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,618 to Dorschner et al., U.S. Pat. No.3,802,817 to Matsuki et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,338,992 and 3,341,394 toKinney, U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,763 to Hartmann, U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,538 toPetersen, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,615 to Dobo et al., each of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference. Spunbond fibers arequenched and generally not tacky when they are deposited onto acollecting surface. Spunbond fibers are generally continuous and oftenhave average deniers larger than about 0.3, more particularly, betweenabout 0.6 and 10.

“Stretchable” means that a material can be stretched, without breaking,to at least 150% of its initial (unstretched) length in at least onedirection, suitably to at least 250% of its initial length, desirably toat least 300% of its initial length.

“Superabsorbent” or “superabsorbent material” refers to awater-swellable, water-insoluble organic or inorganic material capable,under the most favorable conditions, of absorbing at least about 15times its weight and, more desirably, at least about 30 times its weightin an aqueous solution containing 0.9 weight percent sodium chloride.The superabsorbent materials can be natural, synthetic and modifiednatural polymers and materials. In addition, the superabsorbentmaterials can be inorganic materials, such as silica gels, or organiccompounds such as cross-linked polymers.

“Surface” includes any layer, film, woven, nonwoven, laminate,composite, or the like, whether pervious or impervious to air, gas,and/or liquids.

“Thermoplastic” describes a material that softens when exposed to heatand which substantially returns to a nonsoftened condition when cooledto room temperature.

“Tucked” refers to a folded state of a garment in which at least oneportion of the garment is folded to create a more compact orientation ofthe garment. The folded state can include a fold inserted into thechassis or a fold over or under the chassis.

These terms may be defined with additional language in the remainingportions of the specification.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is directed to refastenable seams on garments in atucked position. A flat orientation of resilient fastening components inthe tucked position prevents creases from occurring in the fasteningcomponents, thereby preserving the available fastener seam strength andmaking the fasteners less likely to disengage during product applicationand wear.

The principles of the present invention can be incorporated into anysuitable disposable absorbent article having a pre-fastened andrefastenable seam. Examples of such suitable articles include diapers,training pants, incontinence products, other personal care or healthcare garments, including medical garments, or the like. As used herein,the term “incontinence products” includes absorbent underwear forchildren, absorbent garments for children or young adults with specialneeds such as autistic children or others with bladder/bowel controlproblems as a result of physical disabilities, as well as absorbentgarments for incontinent older adults. For ease of explanation, thedescription hereafter will be in terms of a child's training pant.

Referring to FIG. 1, a disposable absorbent article, such as a trainingpant 20, is illustrated in a partially fastened condition. The trainingpant 20 includes two refastenable seams 80, each extending from a waistopening 50 to one of two leg openings 52 on opposing sides of thegarment 20. Each seam 80 includes a fastening component 82 and a matingfastening component 84. Either the fastening component 82 or the matingfastening component 84, or both, is a resilient fastening component. Theterm “resilient” as used herein refers to an interlocking materialhaving a predetermined shape and the property of the interlockingmaterial to resume the predetermined shape after being engaged anddisengaged from a mating, complementary interlocking material. Theresilient fastener may be deformed under great stress, such as duringcompression, particularly when the fastener does not lie in a flatplane. Resilient fastening components are typically formed fromresilient material and have a backing and a plurality of engagingelements that project from the backing. An example of a suitableresilient fastening component is a hook type fastener that canrepeatedly be engaged with and released from a loop type fastener.

It has been found that fastener performance can be compromised when aresilient fastening component in a refastenable seam is creased duringprocessing or compression in preparation for or during packaging.Usually, creases in fastening components formed during packaging andstorage do not completely unfold or disappear during subsequent use ofthe garment. A crease or creases in a fastener hook component can deformindividual hooks or the underlying material. The result of eitherdeformation can be reduced engagement ability due either to deadenedhooks or to spacing between hooks and loop material that prevent hooksfrom engaging in the loop material. When any hooks on a hook componentare deadened, the engageable area of the hook component is reduced. As aresult, a creased fastener tends to possess lower peel and/or shearvalues than uncreased fasteners. Products with severe and/or multiplefastener creases tend to be most apt to pop open during application andwear due to a greater number of deadened engagement elements. Creasescan also hinder performance of fastener loop materials by flatteningsome of the loops, and by spacing some of the loops farther away fromthe hook material.

Fastener creases appear to be more of an issue for hook components thanfor loop components due to the potential permanent deformation of hookmaterial compared to the relative flexibility of loop material. A majorcause of these performance-impairing creases in refastenable seams isbelieved to be attributable to the orientation of the resilientfastening component before and/or during product compression, and beforeand/or during packaging.

The tucked orientation of the refastenable seams 80 of the presentinvention in preparation for and/or during packaging prevents fastenercreases from occurring, thus preserving the available fastener seamstrength and making fasteners, such as hook and loop fasteners, lesslikely to disengage during product application and wear. A detaileddescription of the tucked orientation of the refastenable seams 80during packaging follows a description of the garment 20 below.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the training pant 20 includes an absorbentchassis 32 defining a front region 22, a back region 24, a crotch region26 interconnecting the front and back regions, an inner surface 28 whichis configured to contact the wearer, and an outer surface 30 oppositethe inner surface which is configured to contact the wearer's clothing.With additional reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the absorbent chassis 32also defines a pair of transversely opposed distal edges 36 and a pairof longitudinally opposed waist edges, which are designated front waistedge 38 and back waist edge 39. The front region 22 is contiguous withthe front waist edge 38, and the back region 24 is contiguous with theback waist edge 39. The chassis 32 also includes a pair of transverselyopposed front side panels 34 and a pair of transversely opposed backside panels 134. The front and back side panels 34, 134 are formed alongthe distal edges 36 of the chassis and can either be integrally formedwith the chassis, as shown in FIG. 2, or can each include at least oneseparate element permanently attached to the chassis, as shown in FIGS.1 and 3. For reference, arrows 48 and 49 depicting the orientation ofthe longitudinal axis and the transverse axis, respectively, of thetraining pant 20 are illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The illustrated absorbent chassis 32 can include an outer cover 40, abodyside liner 42 which is connected to the outer cover in a superposedrelation, an absorbent assembly 44 which is located between the outercover 40 and the bodyside liner 42, and a pair of containment flaps 46,as shown in FIG. 3.

The front side panels 34 shown in FIGS. 4-19, each include fasteningcomponents incorporated therein, either in the form of separatefastening components 82, as shown in FIGS. 4, 5, 7, 9-15, 17 and 18, orin the form of fastening material 86 forming at least a portion of theside panels 34, as shown in FIGS. 6, 8, 16 and 19, such that onefastening component on each side panel 34 can be releasably engaged witha mating fastening component incorporated into each back side panel 134.Similarly, the mating fastening components can be in the form of eitherseparate mating fastening components 84, as shown in FIGS. 4, 6-13,15-17 and 19, or in the form of mating fastening material 88 forming atleast a portion of the chassis 32, as shown in FIGS. 5, 14 and 18. Invarious embodiments, either the entire outer cover 40 or the entire bodyside liner 42 or the front side panels 34 or the back side panels 134can be made of a fastening material 86 or a mating fastening material88.

With the training pant 20 in the fastened position, as partiallyillustrated in FIG. 1, the front and back regions 22 and 24 are joinedtogether to define a three-dimensional pant configuration having a waistopening 50 and a pair of leg openings 52. The front region 22 includesthe portion of the training pant 20 which, when worn, is positioned onthe front of the wearer while the back region 24 includes the portion ofthe training pant which, when worn, is positioned on the back of thewearer. The crotch region 26 of the training pant 20 includes theportion of the training pant which, when worn, is positioned between thelegs of the wearer and covers the lower torso of the wearer. The frontand back side panels 34, 134 include the portions of the training pant20 which, when worn, are positioned on the hips of the wearer.

As shown in FIG. 3, the front region 22 of the absorbent chassis 32includes the transversely opposed front side panels 34 and a front panel35 positioned between and interconnecting the side panels, along with afront waist elastic member 54 and any other connected components. Afront waist region 90 is a region of the front panel 35 along the frontwaist edge 38. The back region 24 of the absorbent chassis 32 includesthe transversely opposed back side panels 134 and a back panel 135positioned between and interconnecting the side panels, as well as arear waist elastic member 56 and any other connected components. A backwaist region 92 is a region of the back panel 135 along the back waistedge 39. The waist edges 38 and 39 of the absorbent chassis 32 areconfigured to encircle the waist of the wearer when worn and provide thewaist opening 50 which defines a waist perimeter dimension. Portions ofthe transversely opposed distal edges 36 of the chassis 32 in the crotchregion 26, along with leg end edges 70 of the side panels 34 and 134,generally define the leg openings 52.

The absorbent chassis 32 is configured to contain and/or absorb any bodyexudates discharged from the wearer. For example, the absorbent chassis32 desirably, although not necessarily, includes the pair of containmentflaps 46 which are configured to provide a barrier to the transverseflow of body exudates. A flap elastic member 53 (FIG. 3) can beoperatively joined with each containment flap 46 in any suitable manneras is well known in the art. The elasticized containment flaps 46 definean unattached edge which assumes an upright, generally perpendicularconfiguration in at least the crotch region 26 of the training pant 20to form a seal against the wearer's body. The containment flaps 46 canbe located along the transversely opposed distal edges 36 of theabsorbent chassis 32, and can extend longitudinally along the entirelength of the absorbent chassis or may only extend partially along thelength of the absorbent chassis. Suitable constructions and arrangementsfor the containment flaps 46 are generally well known to those skilledin the art and are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,116 issued Nov. 3,1987 to Enloe, which is incorporated herein by reference.

To further enhance containment and/or absorption of body exudates, thetraining pant 20 can include the front waist elastic member 54, the rearwaist elastic member 56, and leg elastic members 58, as are known tothose skilled in the art (FIG. 3). The waist elastic members 54 and canbe operatively joined to the outer cover 40 and/or bodyside liner 42along the opposite waist edges 38 and 39 as well as over waist edges 72of the side panels 34, 134, and can extend over part or all of the waistedges. The leg elastic members 58 can be operatively joined to the outercover 40 and/or bodyside liner 42 while longitudinally aligned along thedistal edges 36 and positioned in the crotch region 26 of the chassis32.

The flap elastic members 53, the waist elastic members 54 and 56, andthe leg elastic members 58 can be formed of any suitable elasticmaterial. As is well known to those skilled in the art, suitable elasticmaterials include sheets, strands or ribbons of natural rubber,synthetic rubber, or thermoplastic elastomeric polymers. The elasticmaterials can be stretched and adhered to a substrate, adhered to agathered substrate, or adhered to a substrate and then elasticized orshrunk, for example with the application of heat; such that elasticconstrictive forces are imparted to the substrate. In one particularembodiment, for example, the leg elastic members 58 include a pluralityof dry-spun coalesced multifilament spandex elastomeric threads (e.g.,LYCRA threads) and available from E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company,Wilmington, Del., U.S.A.

The outer cover 40 desirably includes a material that is substantiallyliquid impermeable, and can be elastic, stretchable or nonstretchable.The outer cover 40 can be a single layer of liquid impermeable material,but desirably includes a multi-layered laminate structure in which atleast one of the layers is liquid impermeable. For instance, the outercover 40 can include a liquid permeable outer layer and a liquidimpermeable inner layer that are suitably joined together thermally,ultrasonically, by a laminate adhesive, or by any other suitable methodsknown in the art. Suitable laminate adhesives, which can be appliedcontinuously or intermittently as beads, a spray, parallel swirls, orthe like, can be obtained from Findley Adhesives, Inc., of Wauwatosa,Wis., U.S.A., or from National Starch and Chemical Company, Bridgewater,N.J., U.S.A. The liquid permeable outer layer can be any suitablematerial and desirably one that provides a generally cloth-like textureand/or mating fastening component qualities. One example of such amaterial is a 20 gsm (grams per square meter) spunbond polypropylenenonwoven web. The outer layer may also be made of those materials ofwhich liquid permeable bodyside liner 42 is made. While it is not anecessity for the outer layer to be liquid permeable, it is desired thatit provides a relatively cloth-like texture to the wearer.

The inner layer of the outer cover 40 can be both liquid and vaporimpermeable, or can be liquid impermeable and vapor permeable. The innerlayer is desirably manufactured from a thin plastic film, although otherflexible liquid impermeable materials may also be used. The inner layer,or the liquid impermeable outer cover 40 when a single layer, preventswaste material from wetting articles, such as bedsheets and clothing, aswell as the wearer and care giver. A suitable liquid impermeable filmfor use as a liquid impermeable inner layer, or a single layer liquidimpermeable outer cover 40, is a 0.2 millimeter polyethylene filmcommercially available from Huntsman Packaging of Newport News, Va.,U.S.A. If the outer cover 40 is a single layer of material, it can beembossed and/or matte finished to provide a more cloth-like appearance.As earlier mentioned, the liquid impermeable material can permit vaporsto escape from the interior of the disposable absorbent article, whilestill preventing liquids from passing through the outer cover 40. Asuitable “breathable” material is composed of a microporous polymer filmor a nonwoven fabric that has been coated or otherwise treated to imparta desired level of liquid impermeability. A suitable microporous film isa PMP-1 film material commercially available from Mitsui ToatsuChemicals, Inc., Tokyo, Japan, or an XKO-8044 polyolefin filmcommercially available from 3M Company, Minneapolis, Minn.

The liquid permeable bodyside liner 42 is illustrated as overlying theouter cover 40 and absorbent assembly 44, and may but need not have thesame dimensions as the outer cover 40. The bodyside liner 42 isdesirably compliant, soft feeling, and non-irritating to the child'sskin. Further, the bodyside liner 42 can be less hydrophilic than theabsorbent assembly 44, to present a relatively dry surface to the wearerand permit liquid to readily penetrate through its thickness. Asmentioned, the bodyside liner 42 and/or the outer cover 40 can be madeof a fastening component material or a mating fastening componentmaterial to eliminate the need for separately attached mating fasteningcomponents.

The bodyside liner 42 can be manufactured from a wide selection of webmaterials, such as synthetic fibers (for example, polyester orpolypropylene fibers), natural fibers (for example, wood or cottonfibers), a combination of natural and synthetic fibers, porous foams,reticulated foams, apertured plastic films, or the like. Various wovenand nonwoven fabrics can be used for the bodyside liner 42. For example,the bodyside liner can be composed of a meltblown or spunbonded web ofpolyolefin fibers. The bodyside liner can also be a bonded-carded webcomposed of natural and/or synthetic fibers. The bodyside liner can becomposed of a substantially hydrophobic material, and the hydrophobicmaterial can, optionally, be treated with a surfactant or otherwiseprocessed to impart a desired level of wettability and hydrophilicity.For example, the material can be surface treated with about 0.45 weightpercent of a surfactant mixture including AHCOVEL N-62 base fromUniqema, Inc., a division of ICI of New Castle, Del., and GLUCOPON 220UPsurfactant from Cognis Corp. of Ambler, Pa., in an active ratio of 3:1.The surfactant mixture can be applied by any conventional means, such asspraying, printing, brush coating or the like. The surfactant mixturecan be applied to the entire bodyside liner 42 or can be selectivelyapplied to particular sections of the bodyside liner, such as the medialsection along the longitudinal centerline.

A suitable liquid permeable bodyside liner is a nonwoven bicomponent webhaving a basis weight of about 27 gsm. The nonwoven bicomponent can be aspunbond bicomponent web, or a bonded carded bicomponent web. Suitablebicomponent staple fibers include a polyethylene/polypropylenebicomponent fiber available from Chisso Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Inthis particular bicomponent fiber, the polypropylene forms the core andthe polyethylene forms the sheath of the fiber. Other fiber orientationsare possible, such as multi-lobe, side-by-side, end-to-end, or the like.While the outer cover 40 and bodyside liner 42 can include elastomericmaterials, it can be desirable in some embodiments for the compositestructure to be generally inelastic, where the outer cover, the bodysideliner and the absorbent assembly include materials that are generallynot elastomeric.

The absorbent assembly 44 (FIG. 3) is positioned between the outer cover40 and the bodyside liner 42, which components can be joined together byany suitable means, such as adhesives, as is well known in the art. Theabsorbent assembly 44 can be any structure which is generallycompressible, conformable, non-irritating to the child's skin, andcapable of absorbing and retaining liquids and certain body wastes. Theabsorbent assembly 44 can be manufactured in a wide variety of sizes andshapes, and from a wide variety of liquid absorbent materials commonlyused in the art. For example, the absorbent assembly 44 can suitablyinclude a matrix of hydrophilic fibers, such as a web of cellulosicfluff, mixed with particles of a high-absorbency material commonly knownas superabsorbent material. High absorbency material can be provided inany form known in the art, including but not limited to particles,fibers, foams and films.

In a particular embodiment, the absorbent assembly 44 includes a matrixof cellulosic fluff, such as wood pulp fluff, and superabsorbenthydrogel-forming particles. The wood pulp fluff can be exchanged withsynthetic, polymeric, meltblown fibers or with a combination ofmeltblown fibers and natural fibers. The superabsorbent particles can besubstantially homogeneously mixed with the hydrophilic fibers or can benonuniformly mixed. The fluff and superabsorbent particles can also beselectively placed into desired zones of the absorbent assembly 44 tobetter contain and absorb body exudates. The concentration of thesuperabsorbent particles can also vary through the thickness of theabsorbent assembly 44. Alternatively, the absorbent assembly 44 caninclude a laminate of fibrous webs and superabsorbent material or othersuitable means of maintaining a superabsorbent material in a localizedarea.

Suitable superabsorbent materials can be selected from natural,synthetic, and modified natural polymers and materials. Thesuperabsorbent materials can be inorganic materials, such as silicagels, or organic compounds, such as crosslinked polymers. Suitablesuperabsorbent materials are available from various commercial vendors,such as Dow Chemical Company located in Midland, Mich., U.S.A., andStockhausen GmbH & Co. KG, D-47805 Krefeld, Federal Republic of Germany.Typically, a superabsorbent material is capable of absorbing at leastabout times its weight in water, and desirably is capable of absorbingmore than about 25 times its weight in water.

In one embodiment, the absorbent assembly 44 is generally rectangular inshape, and includes a blend of wood pulp fluff and superabsorbentmaterial. One preferred type of fluff is identified with the tradedesignation CR1654, available from U.S. Alliance, Childersburg, Ala.,U.S.A., and is a bleached, highly absorbent sulfate wood pulp containingprimarily soft wood fibers. As a general rule, the superabsorbentmaterial is present in the absorbent assembly 44 in an amount of fromabout 0 to about 90 weight percent based on total weight of theabsorbent assembly. The absorbent assembly 44 suitably has a densitywithin the range of about 0.10 to about 0.50 grams per cubic centimeter.The absorbent assembly 44 may or may not be wrapped or encompassed by asuitable tissue wrap that maintains the integrity and/or shape of theabsorbent assembly.

The absorbent chassis 32 can also incorporate other materials that aredesigned primarily to receive, temporarily store, and/or transportliquid along the mutually facing surface with the absorbent assembly 44,thereby maximizing the absorbent capacity of the absorbent assembly. Onesuitable material is referred to as a surge layer (not shown) andincludes a material having a basis weight of about 50 to about 120 gramsper square meter, and including a through-air-bonded-carded web of ahomogenous blend of 60 percent 3 denier type T-256 bicomponent fiberincluding a polyester core/polyethylene sheath and 40 percent deniertype T-295 polyester fiber, both commercially available from KosaCorporation of Salisbury, N.C., U.S.A.

As noted previously, the illustrated training pant 20 has front and backside panels 34, 134 disposed on each side of the absorbent chassis 32.These transversely opposed front side panels 34 and transversely opposedback side panels 134 can be permanently bonded to the front panel 35 andback panel 135 in the respective front and back regions 22, 24 alongattachment lines 66, and are releasably attached to one another. Theside panels 34, 134 may be permanently attached using attachment meansknown to those skilled in the art such as adhesive, thermal orultrasonic bonding. As mentioned, the side panels 34, 134 can also beformed as continuous extensions of the front and back panels 35, 135.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4-19, the fastening components 82 can bepermanently bonded to either the inner surface 28 or the outer surface30 of each front side panel 34 adjacent each distal edge 36 of the frontregion 22 of the chassis 32, and the mating fastening components 84 canbe permanently bonded to either the inner surface 28 or the outersurface 30 of each back side panel 134 adjacent each distal edge 36 ofthe back region 24 of the chassis, or either the inner surface 28 or theouter surface 30 of the chassis 32 can include fastening material 86 ormating fastening material 88. The fastening components 82 and the matingfastening components 84 may be attached to the side panels 34 and thechassis 32 using attachment means known to those skilled in the art suchas adhesive, thermal or ultrasonic bonding.

In one particular embodiment, the fastening components 82 each includehook type fasteners and the mating fastening components 84 each includecomplementary loop type fasteners. In another particular embodiment, thefastening components 82 each include loop type fasteners and the matingfastening components 84 each include complementary hook type fasteners.In yet another embodiment, half of the fastening components 82 and halfof the mating fastening components 84 can include hook type fasteners,while half of the fastening components 82 and half of the matingfastening components 84 can include loop type fasteners. In stillanother embodiment, each of the fastening components 82 and the matingfastening components 84 include self-engaging fasteners. The fasteningcomponents 82 and the mating fastening components 84 are desirablyrectangular, although they may alternatively be square, round, oval,curved, discontinuous such as multiple fasteners, or any other suitableshape. The fastening components 82 and mating fastening components 84may or may not be parallel to a longitudinal midline 94 of the garment20.

In another embodiment, the nonwoven web in the outer cover 40 can beconstructed of a material that is suitable for use as a loop-typefastening material, thereby eliminating the need for separate loop-typefastening components 82 or 84, and the fastening components 82 or 84 onthe side panels 34 or 134 can be hook-type fastening components. In yetanother embodiment, the nonwoven web in the bodyside liner 42 can beconstructed of a material that is suitable for use as a loop-typefastening material, thereby eliminating the need for separate loop-typefastening components 82 or 84, and the fastening components 82 or 84 onthe side panels 34 or 134 can be hook-type fastening components. Instill another embodiment, an inner or outer surface of either the frontside panels 34 or the back side panels 134 can include a loop-typefastening material, thereby eliminating the need for separate loop typefastening components 82 or 84.

Loop type fasteners typically include a fabric or material having a baseor backing structure and a plurality of loop members extending upwardlyfrom at least one surface of the backing structure. The loop materialcan be formed of any suitable material, such as acrylic, nylon orpolyester, and can be formed by methods such as warp knitting, stitchbonding or needle punching. Suitable loop materials are available fromGuilford Mills, Inc., Greensboro, N.C., U.S.A. under the tradedesignation No. 36549.

Hook type fasteners typically include a fabric or material having a baseor backing structure and a plurality of hook members extending upwardlyfrom at least one surface of the backing structure. In contrast to theloop type fasteners which desirably include a flexible fabric, the hookmaterial advantageously includes a resilient material to minimizeunintentional disengagement of the fastener components as a result ofthe hook material becoming deformed and catching on clothing or otheritems. Suitable hook material can be molded or extruded of nylon,polypropylene or another suitable material. Suitable single-sided hookmaterials for the fastening components 82 or the mating fasteningcomponents 84 are available from commercial vendors such as VelcroIndustries B.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands or affiliates thereof, and areidentified as Velcro HTH-829 with a uni-directional hook pattern andhaving a thickness of about 0.9 millimeters (35 mils) and HTH-851 with auni-directional hook pattern and having a thickness of about 0.5millimeters (20 mils); and Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co., St.Paul, Minn. U.S.A., including specific materials identified as CS-600.

In particular embodiments for improved fit and appearance, the sidepanels 34, 134 desirably have an average length dimension measuredparallel to the longitudinal axis 48 that is about 20 percent orgreater, and particularly about 25 percent or greater, of the overalllength dimension of the absorbent article, also measured parallel to thelongitudinal axis 48. For example, in training pants having an overalllength dimension of about 54 centimeters, the side panels 34, 134desirably have an average length dimension of about 10 centimeters orgreater, such as about 15 centimeters. A waist end edge 72 of each sidepanel 34, 134 can suitably be relatively straight across in thetransverse direction while the leg end edge 70 of each side panel 34,134 can suitably have a curvature, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, to allowthe leg opening 52 to conform about a wearer's leg.

Each of the side panels 34, 134 can include one or more individual,distinct pieces of material in addition to the fastening components 82,84, as shown in FIG. 3. In particular embodiments, for example, eachside panel 34, 134 can include first and second side panel portions thatare joined at a seam, with at least one of the portions including anelastomeric material. The side panels 34, 134 desirably include anelastic material capable of stretching in a direction generally parallelto the transverse axis 49 of the training pant 20. The front side panels34 and the back side panels 134 can be of equal widths or of differentwidths in the transverse direction.

Suitable elastic materials, as well as one described process ofincorporating elastic side panels into a training pant, are described inthe following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,940,464 issued Jul. 10, 1990 to VanGompel et al.; 5,224,405 issued Jul. 6, 1993 to Pohjola; 5,104,116issued Apr. 14, 1992 to Pohjola; and 5,046,272 issued Sep. 10, 1991 toVogt et al.; all of which are incorporated herein by reference. Inparticular embodiments, the elastic material includes a stretch-thermallaminate (STL), a neck-bonded laminated (NBL), a reversibly neckedlaminate, or a stretch-bonded laminate (SBL) material. Methods of makingsuch materials are well known to those skilled in the art and describedin U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,220 issued May 5, 1987 to Wisneski et al.; U.S.Pat. No. 5,226,992 issued Jul. 13, 1993 to Morman; and European PatentApplication No. EP 0 217 032 published on Apr. 8, 1987 in the names ofTaylor et al.; all of which are incorporated herein by reference.Alternatively, the side panel material may include other woven ornonwoven materials, such as those described above as being suitable forthe outer cover 40 or bodyside liner 42, or stretchable but inelasticmaterials.

The desired orientation of the refastenable seams 80 before and/orduring compression and/or packaging requires, first, that the seams bepre-fastened, i.e., the fastening component 82 is releasably attached tothe mating fastening component 84, and second, that the resilientfastening components, whether attached to the front side panels 34 orthe back side panels 134, be situated in a plane parallel to a plane inwhich the front waist region 90 of the front panel 35 lies. Furthermore,the front waist region 90 and the back waist region 92 lie in parallelplanes, thus the plane in which the resilient fastening components lieis also parallel to the plane in which the back waist region 92 lies. Inorder to achieve this orientation, the side panels 34, 134 must befolded and tucked into or around the chassis 32.

FIG. 4 shows a differential tucked position of the training pant 20,which prevents folding and creasing of the fasteners during packaging ofthe garment. More specifically, the front side panels 34 are each foldedat the edge of the front panel 35, the back side panels 134 are eachfolded at the edge of the back panel 135, and the fastening components82 and mating fastening components 84 are aligned such that eachfastening component lies in a plane parallel to the front waist region90 and also parallel to the back waist region 92. In order to achievethis configuration, the front side panels 34 are folded at least twice,both at the edge of the front panel 35 and at or near the edge of thefastening component 82. Alternatively, instead of the front side panels34 being folded twice, the back side panels 134 can be folded twice, asshown in FIG. 5. The resilient fastening components, whether they arethe fastening components 82 or the mating fastening components 84, canbe releasably attached directly to the corresponding side panel if theside panel (e.g. 134) is made of an engageable material 88, e.g. loopmaterial, as shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 shows another differential tucked position of the training pant20, in which the front side panels 34 are each folded three times andthe back side panels 134 are each folded twice.

FIG. 7 shows a differential undertucked position of the training pant20. Similar to the differential tucked positions shown in FIGS. 4 and 5,the differential undertucked position includes the front side panels 34and back side panels 134 each folded, but not necessarily at the edgesof the front panel 35 and the back panel 135. Instead, portions of thefront side panels 34 and/or the back side panels 134 project beyond theedges of the front panel and/or the back panel, such that the front sidepanels and/or the back side panels are not fully tucked between thefront and back panels 35, 135 of the chassis 32. This configuration isparticularly suitable for garments wherein the front panel 35 is eithernarrower or wider in the transverse direction than the back panel 135,and/or when the front side panels 34 are either narrower or wider in thetransverse direction than the back side panels 134. Nevertheless, thefastening components and the mating fastening components 84 are alignedsuch that each fastening component lies in a plane parallel to the frontwaist region 90 and also parallel to the back waist region 92. As in thedifferential tucked positions, in order to achieve the differentialundertucked configuration, the front side panels 34 are folded twice,both at the edge of the front panel 35 or away from the edge of thefront panel 35 and at or near the edge of the fastening component 82.Alternatively, instead of the front side panels 34 being folded twice,the back side panels 134 can be folded twice. FIG. 8 shows adifferential undertucked position of the training pant 20 wherein theresilient fastening components 84 are releasably attached directly tocorresponding side panels made of an engageable material 86, rather thanto separately attached loop components. FIG. 8 differs from FIG. 7 alsoin that one of the front side panels 34 is folded once while the otherfront side panel 34 is folded twice, and one of the back side panels 134is folded once while the other back side panel 134 is folded twice.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show differential tucked positions of the training pant20 wherein portions of the side panels 34, 134 may or may not projectbeyond the edges of the front panel 35 and/or the back panel 135. Thefront side panels 34, 134 are each folded at the edges of the frontpanel 35 and the back panel 135. The fastening components 82 and themating fastening components 84 are aligned such that each fasteningcomponent lies in a plane parallel to the front waist region 90 and alsoparallel to the back waist region 92. The front side panels 34 can befolded twice and the back side panels 134 can be folded three times, asshown in FIG. 9, in order to achieve this configuration. Alternatively,the front side panels 34 can be folded three times and the back sidepanels 134 can be folded twice, as shown in FIG. 10, in order to achievethis configuration.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show differential tucked positions of the training pant20 wherein the refastenable seams 80 are butt seams. As used herein, theterm “butt seam” refers to a seam wherein two separate pieces ofsubstrate are joined together face-to-face or back-to-back in closeproximity to an outer edge of each of the pieces of substrate, and theouter edges of the pieces of substrate project inward or outward fromthe finished product, as opposed to lying flat, thus placing the seam 80in peel, as opposed to shearing strain. The fastening components 82 andthe mating fastening components 84 are aligned such that each fasteningcomponent lies in a plane parallel to the front waist region 90 and alsoparallel to the back waist region 92. The front side panels 34 and theback side panels 134 can each be folded twice, as shown in FIG. 11, thuscreating outward facing refastenable butt seams 80. Alternatively, thefront side panels 34 and the back side panels 134 can each be foldedthree times, as shown in FIG. 12, thus creating inward facingrefastenable butt seams 80.

FIG. 13 shows an offset tucked position of the training pant 20. Morespecifically, the front side panels 34 are each folded at the edge ofthe front panel 35, the back side panels 134 are each folded at the edgeof the back panel 135, and the longitudinal midline 94 of the frontpanel 35 is offset from the longitudinal midline 94 of the back panel135. Each fastening component 82 lies in a plane parallel to the frontwaist region 90 and also parallel to the back waist region 92. In orderto achieve this configuration, one front side panel 34 and one back sidepanel 134 are each folded twice, both at or near the edge of the frontpanel 35 and back panel 135 and at or near the edge of the fasteningcomponent 82 or 84, and one front side panel 34 and one back side panel134 are each folded once at or near the edge of the front panel 35 andback panel 135. The side panels 34, 134 shown in FIG. 13 are integralwith the front and back panels 35, 135, with the fastening components82, 84 aligned along the distal edges 36 of the front and back regions22, 24. As in the previous embodiments, the resilient fasteningcomponents, whether they are the fastening components 82 or the matingfastening components 84, can be releasably attached directly to thecorresponding side panel 34, 134 if the side panel is made of anengageable material 88, e.g. loop material, as shown in FIG. 14.

FIG. 15 shows an overlapped tucked position of the training pant 20.More specifically, the front side panels 34 are each folded at or nearthe edge of the front panel 35, the back side panels 134 are each foldedat or near the edge of the back panel 135, and the fastening components82 and mating fastening components 84 are aligned such that eachfastening component 82, 84 lies in a plane parallel to the front waistregion 90 of the front panel 35 and also parallel to the back waistregion 92 of the back panel 135. In this position, the refastenableseams 80 are overlapped, such that a seam 80 on a right side of thegarment is folded to the left of a seam 80 that is positioned on theleft side of the garment. In order to achieve this configuration, thefront side panels 34 are folded once at or near the edge of the frontpanel 35, and the back side panels 134 are folded twice, both at or nearthe edge of the back panel 135 and at or near the edge of the matingfastening component 84. Alternatively, instead of the front side panelsbeing folded once and the back side panels 134 folded twice, the backside panels 134 can be folded once and the front side panels 34 can befolded twice. The resilient fastening components, whether they are thefastening components 82 or the mating fastening components 84, can bereleasably attached directly to the corresponding side panel 34, 134 ifthe side panel is made of an engageable material 86, e.g. loop material,as shown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 17 shows a tucked position of the training pant 20 wherein the sidepanels 34, 134 are not positioned between the front panel 35 and theback panel 135. Instead, the refastenable seams 80 are folded onto thefront panel 35. More specifically, the front side panels 34 are eachfolded away from the back panel 135, the back side panels 134 are eachfolded at or near the edge of the back panel 135 toward the front panel35, and the fastening components 82 and mating fastening components 84are aligned such that each fastening component 82, 84 lies in a planeparallel to the front waist region 90 and also parallel to the backwaist region 92. In order to achieve this configuration, the front sidepanels 34 are folded twice, both at or near the edge of the front panel35 and at or near the edge of the fastening component 82. Alternatively,instead of the refastenable seams 80 being folded onto the front panel35, the refastenable seams 80 can be folded onto the back panel 135, asshown in FIG. 18. The resilient fastening components, whether they arethe fastening components 82 or the mating fastening components 84, canbe releasably attached directly to the corresponding side panel 34, 134if the side panel is made of an engageable material 88, e.g. loopmaterial, as shown in FIG. 18.

FIG. 19 shows a tucked position of the training pant 19 wherein the sidepanels 34, 134 are folded onto the front panel 35. In thisconfiguration, the front side panels 34 are folded once, at or near theedge of the front panel 35, and the back side panels 134 are foldedtwice, both at or near the edge of the back panel 135 and at or near theedge of the mating fastening component 84. As shown, the matingfastening components 84 can be releasably attached directly to the frontside panels 34 made of an engageable material 86.

Each of the orientations of the refastenable seams 80 described aboveresults in a garment 20 having resilient fastening components lying in aplane such that the fastening components will not become creased duringpackaging. A side view representing any of the garments 20 in FIGS. 4-16is shown in FIG. 20. A side view representing the garment 20 in FIGS. 17and 19 is shown in FIG. 21. Any of the configurations shown in FIGS.4-19 can be folded once again, such that the crotch region 26 of thegarment is folded onto either the front region 22 or the back region 24of the garment, as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23. When folding the garment inthis manner, the fold should occur below the refastenable seam 80, suchthat the refastenable seam remains in a plane parallel to the front andback waist regions 90, 92, as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23. A garment havingmore than one fastening component 82 and/or 84 along each refastenableseam 80 can be folded between the fastening components 82 and/or 84, andmay also be folded below the bottommost fastening components 82, 84, asshown in FIG. 24.

The orientations of the refastenable seams 80 of the present inventionare suitable for use with garments of a wide range of sizes andproportions. For example, the orientations can be used with garments 20having front and back panels 35, 135 of roughly equal transverse widths,or with one of the panels transversely wider than the other. Similarly,the orientations can be used with garments having front and back sidepanels 34, 134 of roughly equal transverse widths, or with one of thepairs of panels transversely wider than the other. Thus, therefastenable seams 80 of the invention can be located at the exact sidesof the garments or can be skewed forward or backward from the exactsides. More particularly, if the front region 22 has a transverse widthabout equal to a transverse width of the back region 24, therefastenable seams 80 will be located at the exact sides of the garment20; and if the front region 22 has a transverse width smaller than thetransverse width of the back region 24, the refastenable seams 80 willbe skewed forward on the garment 20; and if the front region 22 has atransverse width greater than the transverse width of the back region24, the refastenable seams 80 will be skewed backward on the garment 20.The extent to which the refastenable seams 80 are tucked can be adjustedin order to get the resilient fastening components to lie flat.

As mentioned, the refastenable seams 80 suitably extend longitudinallyfrom the waist opening 50 to the leg openings 52. The refastenable seams80 can be any suitable transverse width and can vary greatly dependingon the product. For example, each refastenable seam 80 can be in a rangeof about 0.25 inch to about 2.5 inches wide in the transverse direction.As another example, each refastenable seam 80 can be in a range of about0.5 inch to about 2.0 inches wide in the transverse direction.

Any suitable method can be used to tuck the refastenable seams 80 intothe chassis 32. For example, suitable conventional methods include usingrotating blades, folding boards and air blasts.

Once the garment 20 is pre-fastened and tucked such that therefastenable seams 80 are oriented in accordance with the presentinvention, the garment can be compressed and packaged along withmultiple other garments of the same kind. Due to the flat orientation ofthe refastenable seams 80 lying parallel to the flat waist regions 90,92 of the garment, the resilient fastening components remain flat and donot become creased or crushed when the garment is compressed andpackaged. Fastener seam strength is thereby preserved such that thefastening components 82, 84 are less likely to disengage during productapplication and wear, compared to fastening components that becomecreased during packaging and compression. A description of compressionpacking is included in PCT WO 97/49618, published Dec. 31, 1997, thecontents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

It will be appreciated that details of the foregoing embodiments, givenfor purposes of illustration, are not to be construed as limiting thescope of this invention. Although only a few exemplary embodiments ofthis invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in theart will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in theexemplary embodiments without materially departing from the novelteachings and advantages of this invention. Accordingly, all suchmodifications are intended to be included within the scope of thisinvention, which is defined in the following claims and all equivalentsthereto. Further, it is recognized that many embodiments may beconceived that do not achieve all of the advantages of some embodiments,particularly of the preferred embodiments, yet the absence of aparticular advantage shall not be construed to necessarily mean thatsuch an embodiment is outside the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tucked, refastenable, absorbent garment,comprising: a chassis including a bodyside liner, an outer cover, and anabsorbent assembly positioned between the bodyside liner and the outercover; a first region of the chassis including a first panel and atleast one first side panel, wherein the first panel includes portions ofthe bodyside liner, the outer cover, and the absorbent assembly; asecond region of the chassis including a second panel and at least onesecond side panel, wherein the second panel includes portions of thebodyside liner, the outer cover, and the absorbent assembly; and atleast one resilient fastening component permanently attached to an innersurface of the at least one first side panel and releasably attached toat least a portion of an outer surface of the at least one second sidepanel; wherein at least one of the first region and the second region isfolded at least twice such that at least a portion of the at least onefirst side panel is positioned between the first panel and the secondpanel, at least a portion of the at least one second side panel ispositioned between the first panel and the second panel, and the atleast one resilient fastening component is tucked between the foldedabsorbent assembly and lies in a plane parallel to a plane in which afirst part of the absorbent assembly lies.
 2. The tucked, refastenablegarment of claim 1, wherein the second panel lies in a plane parallel tothe plane in which the at least one resilient fastening component lies.3. The tucked, refastenable garment of claim 1, wherein the at least oneresilient fastening component comprises a hook component.
 4. The tucked,refastenable garment of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the innersurface of the at least one first side panel includes comprises a loopcomponent proximate the at least one resilient fastening component. 5.The tucked, refastenable garment of claim 1, wherein the garmentcomprises more than one resilient fastening component permanentlyattached to the first side panel and lying in the plane parallel to theplane in which the first part of absorbent assembly lies.
 6. The tucked,refastenable garment of claim 1, wherein the first panel is wider thanthe second panel.
 7. The tucked, refastenable garment of claim 1,wherein the second panel is wider than the first panel.
 8. The tucked,refastenable garment of claim 1, wherein the at least one first sidepanel is wider than the at least one second side panel.
 9. The tucked,refastenable garment of claim 1, wherein the at least one second sidepanel is wider than the least one first side panel.
 10. The tucked,refastenable garment of claim 1, comprising a diaper.
 11. The tucked,refastenable garment of claim 1, comprising a training pant.
 12. Thetucked, refastenable garment of claim 1, comprising swimwear.
 13. Thetucked, refastenable garment of claim 1, comprising a medical garment.14. A tucked, refastenable, absorbent garment, comprising: a chassisincluding a bodyside liner, an outer cover, and an absorbent assemblypositioned between the bodyside liner and the outer cover; a firstregion of the chassis including a first panel and at least one firstside panel, wherein the first panel includes portions of at least one ofthe bodyside liner, the outer cover, and the absorbent assembly; asecond region of the chassis including a second panel and at least onesecond side panel, wherein the second panel includes portions of atleast one of the bodyside liner, the outer cover, and the absorbentassembly; and at least one resilient fastening component permanentlyattached to an inner surface of the at least one first side panel andreleasably attached to at least a portion of an outer surface of the atleast one second side panel; wherein at least one of the first regionand the second region is folded at least twice such that at least aportion of the at least one first side panel is positioned between thefirst panel and the second panel, at least a portion of the at least onesecond side panel is positioned between the first panel and the secondpanel, and the at least one resilient fastening component is tuckedbetween the folded absorbent assembly and lies in a plane parallel to aplane in which a first part of the absorbent assembly lies.
 15. Thetucked, refastenable garment of claim 14, wherein the second panel liesin a plane parallel to the plane in which the at least one resilientfastening component lies.
 16. The tucked, refastenable garment of claim14, wherein the at least one resilient fastening component comprises ahook component.
 17. The tucked, refastenable garment of claim 14,wherein at least a portion of the inner surface of the at least onefirst side panel includes comprises a loop component proximate the atleast one resilient fastening component.
 18. The tucked, refastenablegarment of claim 14, wherein the garment comprises more than oneresilient fastening component permanently attached to the first sidepanel and lying in the plane parallel to the plane in which the firstpart of absorbent assembly lies.
 19. The tucked, refastenable garment ofclaim 14, comprising a diaper.
 20. The tucked, refastenable garment ofclaim 14, comprising a training pant.